YouTube Now in Russian
YouTube launched its Russian site, youtube.ru, yesterday. Experts say that, by localizing the site for Russian-speaking audiences, it can expect to double its Russian audience by the first quarter of next year, bringing that audience up to 600,000 daily. YouTube, which is owned by Google, has signed agreements with Russian media companies TNT, STS Media, 7TV, 2x2, Russia Today and Euronews to provide nonexclusive content.
Patrick Walker a European spokesman for Google, said that Russia is one of the top 20 YouTube users. Russian YouTube's largest competitor will be RuTube, which is reported to have about 300,000 visitors daily and monthly revenues of $200,000. RuTube is followed in popularity by Video@mail.ru, with 150,000 hits per day. The Russian audience for Internet video is growing by about 30 percent per year.
YouTube's competitor's are so far unworried by the new service. “We have built a stable network,” noted RuTube producer Askar Tugnbaev. He noted of the content YouTube will obtain from the television companies that it “is of little interest to anybody on the web, since it is already being broadcast on the television.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 14, 2007
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